ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -In perhaps his most famous essay, “Self-Reliance, ” he urged his readers to believe in themselves and to choose transcendental nonconformity instead of simply following the conventional dictates of society.

Detailed explanation-2: -The transcendentalists stressed the importance of thinking for one’s self rather than timidly accepting the common opinion. Emerson believed that truth was found within, and that this internal truth transcended the knowledge gained from one’s senses.

Detailed explanation-3: -"Self-Reliance” is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson’s recurrent themes: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his own instincts and ideas.

Detailed explanation-4: -Emerson now focuses on four social arenas in which self-reliant individuals are needed: religion, which fears creativity; culture, which devalues individualism; the arts, which teach us only to imitate; and society, which falsely values so-called progress.